Greg Takoudes

Greg Takoudes is the director, producer, and co-writer of Up With Me, a feature film that premiered at South-by-Southwest and won the Special Jury Award. Up With Me played at film festivals in America and Europe, winning several awards. The film was distributed by the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Greg’s second directorial feature, The Jonestown Defense, screened as a rough cut at the Sarasota Film Festival, where the film was shot, and is currently in post-production. Greg is developing a feature dramatic thriller set in Alaska, and recently shot a proof-of-concept short film for the feature, that starred Jake Cannavale and Tony-nominated Broadway actor Santino Fontana.

Greg’s debut novel, When We Wuz Famous, was published in March 2013 by Henry Holt and Co, to very strong reviews. His most recent book, about film directing aesthetics and collaboration, titled The Collaborative Director, is published by Routledge Books.

Greg also teaches film directing and screenwriting at The New School, a university in Manhattan.

Prior to becoming a filmmaker and writer, Greg worked for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as a member of the creative team at Imagine Entertainment in Los Angeles. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, an executive editor at Phaidon Press, and their two children.